I meant to say this earlier, but if you want a GOOD mesh of some glam with some thrash, then go check out Laaz Rockit's first two albums. Can't even begin to describe how badly they beat out Nitro here.

Laaz Rockit's first album doesn't even have half the charisma these guys have. They are a better band songwriting-wise, though, more consistent.

Mostly I just think that Laaz Rockit debut is lame.

They both took awhile to grow on me myself, but you should review tracks like "Forced to Fight" and "Something More" again... catchy stuff.

Oh well, it's not like Laaz Rockit was ever THAT good ... but I'd certainly put them above Nitro anyday.

For those of you who don't know, Nitro's singer, Jim Gillette, is a FUCKING BAD-ASS. He's into MMA currently and there are some pretty insane stories about when the members of Nitro got into fights back in the day and Gillette basically hospitalized everyone he came across to the point where he would be picking other people's teeth out of his knees.

So, yeah...don't make fun of Nitro.

BE ADVISED: I AM FORWARDED ALL NITRO HATE COMMENTS TO JIM, ALONG WITH THE PERSON'S NAME AND HOUSE ADDRESS.

For those of you who don't know, Nitro's singer, Jim Gillette, is a FUCKING BAD-ASS. He's into MMA currently and there are some pretty insane stories about when the members of Nitro got into fights back in the day and Gillette basically hospitalized everyone he came across to the point where he would be picking other people's teeth out of his knees.

So, yeah...don't make fun of Nitro.

BE ADVISED: I AM FORWARDED ALL NITRO HATE COMMENTS TO JIM, ALONG WITH THE PERSON'S NAME AND HOUSE ADDRESS.

It's fucking weird when I think about that guy singing those falsettos.

For those of you who don't know, Nitro's singer, Jim Gillette, is a FUCKING BAD-ASS. He's into MMA currently and there are some pretty insane stories about when the members of Nitro got into fights back in the day and Gillette basically hospitalized everyone he came across to the point where he would be picking other people's teeth out of his knees.

So, yeah...don't make fun of Nitro.

BE ADVISED: I AM FORWARDED ALL NITRO HATE COMMENTS TO JIM, ALONG WITH THE PERSON'S NAME AND HOUSE ADDRESS.

It's fucking weird when I think about that guy singing those falsettos.

That's the same dude as this? That's the definition of manning up right there.

Joined: Tue May 25, 2004 5:48 pmPosts: 497Location: United States of America

Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 12:52 pm

Abominatrix wrote:

deathcorpse wrote:

I haven't read yet what other people wrote in this thread, but I saw Nitro at Cat Club in NYC back probably around 1988-1989 (not sure the year) and while technically talented obviously, they were hands down the most annoying band I ever saw out of that period. Even somehow more annoying than Pretty Boy Floyd. For me, over the top enough is Crimson Glory. I can't get with it at all. Besides, when I saw them live, as many of the bands at that time did live, had piped in backing vocals and guitar layerings in there.

Hey Deathcorpse, can you tell us a little more about this ultra-annoying Nitro experience? I'm morbidly curious.

It sucked. There weren't many people at Cat Club that night, and I sat right in front. They used to have these silly VIP tables out on the floor every once in a while for shows, one of those 2 drink minimum ones I remember sitting there and watching them and laughing. I was apart of that scene back then (the hair metal scene) so I saw lots of bands almost every night in NYC for the better part of the late 80's early 90's. Cat Club was one of those in places for the scene, almost everyone played there; local or up and and coming bands from that time.

Anyway, the band came on and the first thing I thought was, I was amazed at the height of the singer's hair. Holy shit talk about over the top. This wasn't over the top like Colin from GBH...but I knew I was in for something, I heard a little bit about what Nitro was all about from knowing bands in the scene but never saw them live.

Then that Michael Angelo dude starts doing all this over the top finger tapping, and although I knew it was talented; something about it was totally lacking, I think his playing is quite soulless. I think it's choice of notes (other technical players of the time I like better like Vai or even Malmsteen). And the high pitched screams which were to me, horrible. We aren't talking good high pitched vocals like Rob Halford can do, or like Midnight from Crimson Glory could do. They played over a backing track (which was not uncommon for those bands who had power choruses and wanted them to be there live) which had not only backing vocals and layered guitar riffing, but also those 2 note vocal high notes, no doubt one of them was piped in.

I guess for over the top hair metal mixed in with power metal (if you want to call it that) these guys were good, but I hated them and thought they sucked. Obviously they are technically talented but at the end of the day that isn't going to make or break the deal for me. At the time (and even now) I'd rather LA GUNS, FASTER PUSSYCAT, HANOI ROCKS, and SKID ROW over a band like Nitro.

Fashionwise, I always thought any band that wore white (in the exception of gothers like Wayne Hussey from The Mission UK/Sisters or Daniel Ash from Love And Rockets/Bauhaus) looked extremely tacky and horrible. White Boots and white leather jackets with fringes to me were the killer (just in the way white high tops the thrashers wore to me, looked horrible). These guys fashionwise were like in comparison to lets say, a cool band like Hanoi Rocks were to Pretty Boy Floyd; Tigertailz or The D'Molls (and holy shit they both looked horrible) were to Nitro.

When I saw them that night, I wasn't sure if they were a parody and a joke or serious. If they were a joke, then I didn't get it because they seemed pretty damn serious.

In the scheme of hundreds and hundreds of bands I've seen in my lifetime, Nitro is up there with the worst most horrible lame ass bands I've ever seen...they are up there with Pretty Boy Floyd (who I also saw at Cat Club a bunch of times back then) and Nelson (who I went to see with my ex-girlfriend who worked for Atlantic). I must say though, I couldn't ask for my money back for these 3 shows since I didn't pay for any of them; but they were all pretty painful even if it was just that I was hanging out boozin' for the night and casually watching, which I was much of the time.

God, I can't imagine having to sit through that many godawful bands and I actually quite like hair metal. Nitro ranks amongst the worst/funniest band I've ever heard. Again it's the taking Van Halen in all the wrong direction. MAB is fast, that I can't deny, just he's a completely worthless guitarist in emotional terms (for instance, he doesn't deal with them, he deals in maths). I'm generally not that tolerant of awful live bands, seeing Job for a Cowboy nearly made me sick.

_________________'Heavy metal top of the class, stuff the media up your arse!' - Den Dennis.

Joined: Tue May 25, 2004 5:48 pmPosts: 497Location: United States of America

Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 1:02 pm

Just to reiterate about piped in vocals and layers, many bands at the time did this. I auditioned for a band that was apart of this scene and in the audition I had to play to a click track which had backing vocals and guitar layerings on it. It wasn't uncommon at all and you might be surprised at the bands that did this.

Joined: Tue May 25, 2004 5:48 pmPosts: 497Location: United States of America

Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 1:08 pm

ANationalAcrobat wrote:

God, I can't imagine having to sit through that many godawful bands and I actually quite like hair metal. Nitro ranks amongst the worst/funniest band I've ever heard. Again it's the taking Van Halen in all the wrong direction. MAB is fast, that I can't deny, just he's a completely worthless guitarist in emotional terms (for instance, he doesn't deal with them, he deals in maths). I'm generally not that tolerant of awful live bands, seeing Job for a Cowboy nearly made me sick.

From 1987-1991 (before grunge killed it off if you want to say that) I saw a shitload of bands come through NYC and many of them were horrible, and just a few were good. If you were apart of the scene back then, if you knew the doorpeople and were in a band (like I was at the time) you never paid to get in. Most of my ride was free and thank christ it was.

The cooler bands I saw at the time were Faster Pussycat, Zodiac Mindwarp, LA Guns, Mike Monroe, Skid Row, Guns N' Roses (before Adler left); along those lines. I've seen the Pretty Boy Floyds and the Bang Tangos of the world and most of them were painful to watch. I would go to LA to visit friends so I remember the strip scene a bit. Decline Of Western Civilization Part 2 is pretty accurate.

Yeah, that scene was the same as any other, it had its great and good bands and then the crap. I personally don't think hair metal was any significantly worse or sillier (barring Nitro!) than Grunge, they both spawned their fair share of shite. They're both eeriely similar, the best bands to come out of both eras were sort of the more 70s throwbacks I thought. Soundgarden, GNR and The Cult (though the latter don't quite fit in, but you've mentioned Zodiac Mindwarp and to my memory they're English too).

_________________'Heavy metal top of the class, stuff the media up your arse!' - Den Dennis.

Joined: Tue May 25, 2004 5:48 pmPosts: 497Location: United States of America

Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 1:19 pm

ANationalAcrobat wrote:

Yeah, that scene was the same as any other, it had its great and good bands and then the crap. I personally don't think hair metal was any significantly worse or sillier (barring Nitro!) than Grunge, they both spawned their fair share of shite. They're both eeriely similar, the best bands to come out of both eras were sort of the more 70s throwbacks I thought. Soundgarden, GNR and The Cult (though the latter don't quite fit in, but you've mentioned Zodiac Mindwarp and to my memory they're English too).

Definitely, it's the whole retro thing no doubt. I also think though that along with mass production and oversaturation (as in any genre), there are the ones who lead the pack and the ones who don't for whatever reason or another. I too saw GNR (first time was in 87' before Sweet Child came out) and Soundgarden (on tour with Voivod for Louder Than Love, but much more preferred them once BadMotorFinger came out).

For me out of that whole throwback scene in the early 90's, my favorite out of all those bands was Monster Magnet.

Yeah, that scene was the same as any other, it had its great and good bands and then the crap. I personally don't think hair metal was any significantly worse or sillier (barring Nitro!) than Grunge, they both spawned their fair share of shite. They're both eeriely similar, the best bands to come out of both eras were sort of the more 70s throwbacks I thought. Soundgarden, GNR and The Cult (though the latter don't quite fit in, but you've mentioned Zodiac Mindwarp and to my memory they're English too).

Definitely, it's the whole retro thing no doubt. I also think though that along with mass production and oversaturation (as in any genre), there are the ones who lead the pack and the ones who don't for whatever reason or another. I too saw GNR (first time was in 87' before Sweet Child came out) and Soundgarden (on tour with Voivod for Louder Than Love, but much more preferred them once BadMotorFinger came out).

For me out of that whole throwback scene in the early 90's, my favorite out of all those bands was Monster Magnet.

Ughh...Monster Magnet? I bought a record from that band thinking it might be good and it was horrible. Wost 10 dollars I ever spent in my life. They sound like fucking hootie and the blowfish or something.

Joined: Tue May 25, 2004 5:48 pmPosts: 497Location: United States of America

Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 1:20 am

agentsteel666 wrote:

Ughh...Monster Magnet? I bought a record from that band thinking it might be good and it was horrible. Wost 10 dollars I ever spent in my life. They sound like fucking hootie and the blowfish or something.

You think SPINE OF GOD, SUPERJUDGE, TAB25, DOPES TO INFINITY, and POWERTRIP sound like Hootie And The Blowfish?

I enjoy Nitro- cant take them totally serious. I think maybe they took their stage show seriously, cant say because I wasnt there- but it may have looked kind of ridiculous when in comparison to others. Backing tracks are lame, btw- I agree with all the criticism of them being used in metal (Ozzy anyone?, well Ozzy really shouldnt be called metal anymore, lol)- and I fully agree that Nitro is way over the top with their songwriting lacking in a certain respect. But its so much fun and funny! I haven't heard a band like them ever, and they constitute a place between kitsch and actual liking for me. Not in an ironic hipster way, but in a "what the fuck is this" type of way.

I have both the MAB video and the Vocal Power video (Well theyre dvds) from Gillette and I can say, they are definitely not taking the thing totally seriously- I have a hard time watching the Gillette one because he is cracking jokes left and right when I am trying to learn his techniques on how to sing.

Btw- a little note on that- He claims on the dvd that he couldnt sing at all before he started taking lessons- like he was totally a beginner, which is kind of impressive if he really did have a 5 or 6 octave range, King Diamon meets a cat being stepped on sounding as it is.

MAB has soul at times actually on his solo work- its better IMO than Vinnie Moore, Tony McAlpine, Guy Mann Dude, you name it, but maybe does fall short of someone like Friedman or Becker (Especially considering the first few had those damn drum machines).

My opinion and what I've heard is that MAB seems like a stand up dude, really nice guy, gave tons of lessons to guys in the CHicago area (including the Dork from Creed/Alterbridge but thats another story).

Gillette seems like a jerk from what I've heard, that being said I don't know him but I didn't really like how he said on a message board that King Diamond has a "Weak falsetto" (I actually laughed out loud at that one).

And he seems like a Christian Conservative/Homophobic type as well which I'm always opposed to in metal.

But I would pay good price to see a reunion gig, at least around here (CHicago wouldnt be a bad drive from where I am and I would definitely go)..

Ughh...Monster Magnet? I bought a record from that band thinking it might be good and it was horrible. Wost 10 dollars I ever spent in my life. They sound like fucking hootie and the blowfish or something.

You think SPINE OF GOD, SUPERJUDGE, TAB25, DOPES TO INFINITY, and POWERTRIP sound like Hootie And The Blowfish?

I bought their latest album. The one that was released in 2007. It really sucked.

Gillette seems like a jerk from what I've heard, that being said I don't know him but I didn't really like how he said on a message board that King Diamond has a "Weak falsetto" (I actually laughed out loud at that one).

He does seem pretty arrogant. He posts on the MAB forums under the username 240, because that's how many muscles he has or some shit.

Oh yeah, and I checked out the solo album Gillette released in the 80s before he hooked up with MAB. It's actually better than Nitro.

Yo, let's be honest. I like King Diamond's singing and all, but it IS a weak falsetto. You can tell that it is if you've ever tried to sing the notes he does. There's no power, and practically anyone could do it. I don't think that Jim Gillette is any better, but I would have to say that his falsetto is stronger. Rob Halford, Dio, Bruce Dickinson, and John Bush all can sing high in their normal voices. King Diamond and Jim Gillette can only do falsetto.

Yo, let's be honest. I like King Diamond's singing and all, but it IS a weak falsetto. You can tell that it is if you've ever tried to sing the notes he does. There's no power, and practically anyone could do it. I don't think that Jim Gillette is any better, but I would have to say that his falsetto is stronger. Rob Halford, Dio, Bruce Dickinson, and John Bush all can sing high in their normal voices. King Diamond and Jim Gillette can only do falsetto.

Quiet you! I'll hear no more words against the King!

_________________

gomorro wrote:

Fortunately the seminar started and when it finished, I runed away like if Usain Bolt were about to rape me.

Yo, let's be honest. I like King Diamond's singing and all, but it IS a weak falsetto. You can tell that it is if you've ever tried to sing the notes he does. There's no power, and practically anyone could do it. I don't think that Jim Gillette is any better, but I would have to say that his falsetto is stronger. Rob Halford, Dio, Bruce Dickinson, and John Bush all can sing high in their normal voices. King Diamond and Jim Gillette can only do falsetto.

Quiet you! I'll hear no more words against the King!

Hahaha...you can think he's a king but at the same time you can call his singing a weak falsetto, because in a sense, it is.

Joined: Tue May 25, 2004 5:48 pmPosts: 497Location: United States of America

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 10:57 am

agentsteel666 wrote:

deathcorpse wrote:

agentsteel666 wrote:

Ughh...Monster Magnet? I bought a record from that band thinking it might be good and it was horrible. Wost 10 dollars I ever spent in my life. They sound like fucking hootie and the blowfish or something.

You think SPINE OF GOD, SUPERJUDGE, TAB25, DOPES TO INFINITY, and POWERTRIP sound like Hootie And The Blowfish?

I bought their latest album. The one that was released in 2007. It really sucked.

I can't argue with that, not a fan of the band without Calandra and Kleiman who IMO were the best and most under-rated rhythm section of the 90's. Those albums without them are basically Dave Wyndorf solo records and really shouldn't be called Monster Magnet. I bought Monolithic Baby and I hated it, except for the Gilmour cover which was cool.

NITRO = good, but not great.
The technical skill of the guitarist and vocalist is extreme. there are some powerful bits and im proud to have OFR in my collection.

BUT

it is my feeling that while the "technical" and "shred" abilities of the outfit are amazing, the major downfall of the band is that it fails to "rock" in a way that an 80's metal afficianado needs. that is; the competence is there, but they dont seem to be able to transform that talent into "rocking" songs, that excite the listener. you wouldn't hear someone with a NITRO chorus stuck in their head, singing it while drunk and partying, whereas you might hear someone doing this from any number of relevantly obscure metal bands. thats my opinion.

FREIGHT TRAIN

_________________Razorwyre:promo track track from 'Another Dimension' LP"The best speed metal album of the year"

NITRO = good, but not great.The technical skill of the guitarist and vocalist is extreme. there are some powerful bits and im proud to have OFR in my collection.

BUT

it is my feeling that while the "technical" and "shred" abilities of the outfit are amazing, the major downfall of the band is that it fails to "rock" in a way that an 80's metal afficianado needs. that is; the competence is there, but they dont seem to be able to transform that talent into "rocking" songs, that excite the listener. you wouldn't hear someone with a NITRO chorus stuck in their head, singing it while drunk and partying, whereas you might hear someone doing this from any number of relevantly obscure metal bands. thats my opinion.

FREIGHT TRAIN

I can see what you're saying, but actually I do sing Nitro songs when I'm drunk...the more you listen to a band, the more it sticks in your head! I mean I really like Nitro a lot; I seem to be their biggest fan on the archives.

if you do, thats fucking excellent. like what? Freight train? lol. i think tonight im gonna get drunk and end up treating people to unsettling-ly decent rendition of Queensryche's "the lady wore black" as ive just been listening to it, and remembered how fucking sweet it is.lol. infact, i may demand some NITRO be played at this house party tonight. lol

_________________Razorwyre:promo track track from 'Another Dimension' LP"The best speed metal album of the year"

if you do, thats fucking excellent. like what? Freight train? lol. i think tonight im gonna get drunk and end up treating people to unsettling-ly decent rendition of Queensryche's "the lady wore black" as ive just been listening to it, and remembered how fucking sweet it is.lol. infact, i may demand some NITRO be played at this house party tonight. lol